Remember folks, the French were liberated from the Nazis as Sir Galahad was liberated from the castle full of amorous virgins in "Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail:" Once their fate had been decided from the outside, none could admit that they really quite liked their predicament. So they elected Mitterand, Hitler's caretaker.
Why should it have been so hard for the French to worry that Mitterand really was a Nazi? Let's not forget that fascism is nothing other than socialist authoritarianism in a plutocratic society. Is that such a bad description of Ftance. Mussolini described Fascism as a "third way," between communism and free markets. Is it any wonder the French loved hearing Clinton talk of such a "third way?" I describe it as jumping half way across the canyon between socialism and free markets.